The present invention relates to telecommunications networks and more particularly to monitoring the quality of performance of voice calls routed through a data packet network. If quality conditions are determined to be unacceptable, call routing is transferred through a voice telephone network without requiring termination of the call.
Implementation of voice telephone service over a worldwide data network, such as the Internet, offers advantages that are now being explored. The Internet had its genesis in U.S. Government (called ARPAxe2x80x94Advanced Research Projects Agency) funded research which made possible national internetworked communication systems. This work resulted in the development of network standards as well as a set of conventions and protocols for interconnecting networks and routing information. These protocols, commonly referred to as TCP/IPxe2x80x94Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocolxe2x80x94have subsequently become widely used in the industry. TCP/IP is flexible and robust. In effect, TCP takes care of the integrity and IP moves the data. Internet provides two broad types of services: connectionless packet delivery service and reliable stream transport service. The Internet basically comprises several large computer networks joined together over high-speed data links ranging from ISDN to T1, T3, FDDI, SONET, SMDS, OT1, etc. The most prominent of these national nets are MILNET (Military Network), NSFNET (National Science Foundation NETwork), and CREN (Corporation for Research and Educational Networking). In 1995, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) reported that the Internet linked 59,000 networks, 2.2 million computers and 15 million users in 92 countries.
A simplified diagram of the Internet is depicted in FIG. 1. The Internet 50 comprises Autonomous Systems (AS) which may be owned and operated by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as PSI, UUNET, MCI, SPRINT, etc. Three such AS/ISPs are shown in FIG. 1 at 52, 54 and 56. The Autonomous Systems (ASs) are linked by Inter-AS Connections 58, 60 and 62. Information Providers (IPs) 64 and 66, such as America Online (AOL) and Compuserve, are connected to the Internet via high speed lines 68 and 70, such as T1/T3 and the like. Information Providers generally do not have their own Internet based Autonomous Systems but have or use Dial-Up Networks such as SprintNet (X.25), DATAPAC and TYMNET.
By way of current illustration, MCI is both an ISP and an IP, Sprint is an ISP, and MicroSoft (MSN) is an IP using UUNET as an ISP. Other information providers, such as universities, are indicated in exemplary fashion at 72 and are connected to the AS/ISPs via the same type connections, here illustrated as T1 lines 74. Corporate Local Area Networks (LANs), such as those illustrated at 76 and 78, are connected through routers 80 and 82 and links shown as T1 lines 84 and 86. Laptop or PC computers 88 and 90 are representative of computers connected to the Internet via the public switched telephone network (PSTN), shown connected to the AS/ISPs via dial up links 92 and 96.
The Information Providers (IPs) are end systems that collect and market the information through their own servers. Access providers are companies such as UUNET, PSI, MCI and SPRINT which transport the information. Such companies market the usage of their networks.
In simplified fashion the Internet may be viewed as a series of gateway routers connected together with computers connected to the routers. In the addressing scheme of the Internet an address comprises four numbers separated by dots. An example would be 164.109.211.237. Each machine on the Internet has a unique number that includes one of these four numbers. In the address, the leftmost number is the highest number. By analogy this would correspond to the ZIP code in a mailing address. The first two numbers that constitute this portion of the address may indicate a network or a locale. That network is connected to the last router in the transport path. In differentiating between two computers in the same destination network only the last number field changes. In such an example the next number field 211 identifies the destination router. When the packet bearing the destination address leaves the source router it examines the first two numbers in a matrix table to determine how many hops are the minimum to get to the destination. It then sends the packet to the next router as determined from that table and the procedure is repeated. Each router has a database table that finds the information automatically. This process continues until the packet arrives at the destination computer. The separate packets that constitute a message may not travel the same path, depending on traffic load. However, they all reach the same destination and are assembled in their original sequence order in a connectionless fashion. This is in contrast to connection oriented modes such as frame relay and ATM or voice.
Software has recently been developed for use on personal computers to permit two-way transfer of real-time voice information via an Internet data link between two personal computers. In one of the directions, the sending computer converts voice signals from analog to digital format. The software facilitates data compression down to a rate compatible with modem communication via a POTS telephone line. The software also facilitates encapsulation of the digitized and compressed voice data into the TCP/IP protocol, with appropriate addressing to permit communication via the Internet. At the receiving end, the computer and software reverse the process to recover the analog voice information for presentation to the other party. Such programs permit telephone-like communication between Internet users registered with Internet Phone Servers. The book xe2x80x9cMastering the Internetxe2x80x9d, Glee Cady and Pat McGregor, SYBEX Inc., Alameda, Calif., 1994, ISBN 94-69309, very briefly describes three proprietary programs said to provide real-time video and voice communications via the Internet.
Palmer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,068, issued Dec. 20, 1994 for Video Teleconferencing for Networked Workstations discloses a video teleconferencing system for networked workstations. A master process executing on a local processor formats and transmits digital packetized voice and video data, over a digital network using TCP/IP protocol, to remote terminals.
Lewen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,374, issued Aug. 23, 1994 for Communication Network Integrating Voice Data and Video with Distributed Call Processing, discloses a local area network with distributed call processing for voice, data and video. Real-time voice packets are transmitted over the network, for example to and from a PBX or central office.
Hemmady et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,341, issued Sept. 18, 1990 for Integrated Packetized Voice and Data Switching System, discloses an integrated packetized voice and data switching system for a metropolitan area network (MAN). Voice signals are converted into packets and transmitted on the network.
Tung et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,434,913, issued Jul. 18, 1995, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,247, issued Feb. 6, 1996, for Video Subsystem for Computer Based Conferencing System, disclose an audio subsystem for computer-based conferencing. The system involves local audio compression and transmission of information over an ISDN network.
Hemmady et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,160, issued Oct. 3, 1989, for Integrated Packetized Voice and Data Switching System, discloses an integrated packetized voice and data switching system for metropolitan area networks.
Sampat et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,568, issued Feb. 20, 1996, for Media Dependent Module Interface for Computer Based Conferencing System, discloses a media dependent module interface for computer based conferencing system. An interface connects the upper-level data link manager with the communications driver.
Koltzbach et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,754, issued Apr. 25, 1995, for Bi-Directional Wire Line to Local Area Network Interface and Method, discloses a bi-directional wire-line to local area network interface. The system incorporates means for packet switching and for using the internet protocol (IP).
The commonly assigned applications, Ser. Nos. 08/634,543 and 08/670,908, identified more particularly above, are concerned with providing telephone service via the Internet to users of the public telecommunications network who may not have access to a computer or separate telephone access to the Internet. Such service would be economical, especially for long distance calls, compared with the toll rates charged by long distance interexchange carriers.
With increasing volume of use on the Internet and the bursty nature of data transmission, traffic patterns have become unstable and unpredictable. The minimum quality of service acceptable for voice communication is much higher than the level for data transport as transmission delays noticeably degrade conversation. With the Internet or other high volume data network, acceptable voice communication may be available between two end points at a given time, but often not at other times. A surge in data traffic may make the network unsuitable for voice communication for as much as twenty or thirty minutes. Bottlenecks may occur at different points in the network at different times. The locations of the participants of a voice call are factors in determining suitability of the data network. The degree to which degradation of a voice call remains acceptable is subjective with the user and can be a tradeoff between quality of service and reduction of cost.
A deficiency in earlier proposed voice Internet service systems is the inability to ensure an acceptable level of service quality. Voice communication by nature should be perceived as real time interaction in order to be acceptable to the parties of the call. The packet data network traffic in the connection paths of a voice call may render intolerable transmission delays. Current systems do not measure delays against user acceptable standards. A high level of congestion and delay in a data network often leads to lost or dropped data packets that would noticeably degrade reconstructed voice audio. The voice call user must either endure such deficiencies or terminate the call in favor of originating a new call through an alternative system.
The aforementioned commonly assigned application Ser. No. 08/821,027, filed Mar. 19, 1997 and entitled Voice Call Alternative Routing Through PSTN And Internet Networks, is concerned with determining routing of voice calls alternatively between the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and a data packet network, such as the Internet, in accordance with the quality of service existing in the data packet network at the times of call origination. Through use of the PSTN Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN), a caller may predefine an acceptable level of service, for example 2.4 or 4.8 kbs to be stored in the user""s Call Processing Record (CPR) in the AIN Integrated Services Control Point (ISCP). On a per call basis, the caller linked to a first public switched network may indicate a preference to route through the Internet. This indication would be recognized by the AIN system, in response to which the quality of service currently present on the Internet for completion of the call is measured. If the result exceeds the stored threshold, the call is set up and routed through the Internet to the switched network link to the destination party. If the quality of service on the Internet is not satisfactory, the call would be alternatively routed through the PSTN, which may include an Interexchange Carrier link.
The last described arrangement is an improvement over prior voice data network schemes in the respect that determination of data network performance quality avoids set up of a call that would be known at the outset to be inadequate for voice communication. However, with relatively unstable and unpredictable traffic patterns in data networks such as the Internet, the alternative set up arrangement does not accommodate a change to poor data network performance conditions after a call has been placed and routed through the data network. Thus, parties to such a call still must either suffer the deficiencies in voice quality, perhaps in the hope that data traffic conditions improve, or terminate the call in favor of a new call manually placed through the switched telephone network.
The present invention overcomes the above noted drawbacks of earlier proposed systems and provides additional advantages in part by monitoring the quality of service existing in a data packet network during the course of communication of a voice call through the data network. The user""s acceptable level of service may be predefined with a threshold quality level stored in the user""s Call Processing Record (CPR) in the AIN Integrated Services Control Point (ISCP). If the monitored quality is maintained in excess of the stored threshold, communication of the call continues through the established course of transmission. If the measured quality of service on the data network is not satisfactory, the routing of the call is changed to communication solely through a voice telephone network connection, which may include an Interexchange Carrier link, without terminating the call. Thus, the packet data network is bypassed to obtain voice grade quality while maintaining the call.
Monitoring of the data network, which may be the Internet, may be under control of a module that interfaces between the data network and the public switched telephone network. The caller""s predefined acceptable level of quality, stored in the AIN ISCP may be obtained by the module for comparison with monitored levels. Upon failure of the comparison, the module can issue a signal to the calling station switch to automatically establish a connection for the call from the calling station switch through the PSTN to a second switch coupled to the called station. Such signal also can be generated by the module in response to a DTMF input by either user. Such input reflects the user""s perceived dissatisfaction with quality of the call and acts as a command to automatically reroute the call to bypass the data network. Upon connection of the two switches through the voice telephone network, the voice call is bridged at each of the switches to the established connection. Communication of the call through the packet data network path is thereafter terminated.
Additional advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description, wherein only the preferred embodiment of the invention is shown and described, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated for carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings, throughout the various figures of which like elements are depicted by the same reference numerals, and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.